LINERs and Seyferts live in virtually identical host galaxies
(Fig. 2).
The vast majority of both classes occupy bulge-dominated, early-type
systems (87% are found in types E-Sbc), which clearly differ from the
population of galaxies whose nuclear spectrum indicates photoionization by
current star formation (the so-called H II-nuclei), which is dominated by
late-type hosts (63% are Sc's and later). The only noticeable difference
in the distribution of morphological types of LINERs and Seyferts is that
LINERs occupy a higher proportion of ellipticals. Bars exist with roughly the
same frequency within the subsample of disk galaxies in both groups.

The similarity in the host galaxy properties of LINERs and Seyferts
becomes even more apparent when we examine their absolute
magnitude distributions (Fig. 2); they are
statistically indistinguishable.
Both peak at MBT0 -20.5
mag (for H0 = 75 km s-1
Mpc-1), about 0.4 mag brighter than
MBT*, the typical absolute
magnitude of the field-galaxy luminosity function. The parent galaxies of
H II-nuclei, on the other hand, are systematically fainter than the other
two groups by ~ 0.5 mag in the median.

Figure 2. Number distribution of
morphological types (left) and
total absolute blue magnitudes (right) for H II nuclei, all AGNs
(LINERs
+ Seyferts), and LINERs and Seyferts separately. The median of each
distribution is marked by an arrow. Adapted from
Ho et al. (1997a).